Meat!

The Crescent Wilderness is a vast expanse in the Sky Profound Continent, situated between the Blue Wind Empire and the Black Fiend Nation. This region is overflowing with beasts, some of them as powerful as the Tyrant Profound Realm.

Viewed from the sky, the wilderness forms a distinct crescent moon shape, which is how it earned its name.

In the middle of the wilderness, a simple wooden house stood out in this place where there was no trace of humans. Dense trees and tall grass surrounded the house. Strangely enough, no beast ever came near it.

Inside the house, Yun Wuji sat cross-legged, deep in meditation, his attention was on his profound veins.

The profound veins inside the human body are like a robust, mature tree with many branches spreading out in all directions, each with a profound entrance. The trunk represents the core of the profound veins, serving as their foundation. This base, however, has no profound entrances.

The 'trunk' of Wuji's veins was thicker than typical profound veins, glowing intensely with a silver light akin to a white sun. Suddenly, this light branched out, moving from the trunk to the nearest profound entrance forming a line of white light, when it reached the entrance it illuminated like a shining star. After lighting up the entrance, a special connection was established between the trunk and the branch.

However, this also made the whole profound veins world tremble slightly. Wuji frowned in pain but gritted his teeth and persisted. Once again, the light in the trunk split and headed towards another entrance. Upon contact, the dim entrance lit up like the previous one, shining like a star and forming a unique connection with the base of the veins.

The trembling intensified, but Wuji pressed on without pause.

Third entrance...

Fourth entrance...

Cough!

As he reached the fifth entrance, blood spurted from his mouth.

"I was close, damn it!" Yun Wuji exclaimed, opening his eyes. He wiped the blood from his mouth and pondered over his attempt.

He had been in this wilderness for 2 or 3 months now. When he was flying by it he noticed that most of the beasts matched his combat strength, he chose to stay here to train and develop his technique as well.

After the first month, he had slain most of the Tyrant Profound Realm beasts. All the high-level beasts in the area became aware of a monster hunting their kind, and those who dared provoke him were swiftly met with merciless death.

Wuji stopped hunting when no more beasts could challenge him, turning his attention fully to his technique. Unfortunately, he hit a bottleneck at the fifth entrance and couldn't find a way to progress further.

He previously tried to force his way but ended up severely injured. If he hadn't possessed light profound energy, he might have been crippled by now.

"I've been in seclusion for a long time. I'll take a stroll," Yun Wuji said as he stretched his back and walked outside the house.

-----

A few thousand kilometers away from Wuji. There stood a five hundred meters tall blue apricot tree.

Its name was the Lone Jade Apricot Tree, a special type of tree that produces a unique apricot once every 300 years. Only one apricot grows on the entire tree. 

The apricot fruit sparkled with a creamy white sheen, reminiscent of polished jade, radiating an ethereal and delicate beauty.

Beneath the tree lay a blue dragon, peacefully slumbering. Its entire body was a deep shade of blue, with a small white patch marking its form.

Far away, a woman observed the tree from a distance.

She wore a snowy white attire along with an ice silk veil that masked her appearance, revealing only a pair of ice-cold, beautiful eyes. Even though her appearance was hidden, just her temperament and graceful figure alone were extremely beautiful, capable of stirring uncontrollable fascination.

"The information is true; there is a Lone Jade Apricot Tree in this desolate land," the woman muttered, her gaze shifting to the sleeping dragon. "But getting it from this dragon will be troublesome."

She moved silently, taking careful steps to conceal her aura and breath as much as possible.

At the same time, she was ready to retreat at any time. The dragon guarding the tree was at the Rank 10 Sky Profound Realm, while she was only at Rank 9.

In fact, her goal was to obtain the apricot to help her breakthrough to Rank 10.

To gather clues about its location, she paid a hefty sum to the Black Moon Merchant Guild.

Approaching the tree cautiously, she observed the dragon multiple times, ensuring it remained sound asleep. The dragon was 30 meters tall, and standing beside it she looked like a fox standing next to an elephant.

As she gazed at the dragon before her, she thought of launching a sneak attack while it slept but swiftly dismissed it. Dragons are the strongest race in this world, they possess formidable attack and defense. Even at equal levels, she knew she couldn't defeat it with a single blow.

She detoured the dragon and climbed the tree cautiously. As she approached the fruit her heart began to beat faster. At last, she reached the fruit and stretched her hand to pluck it.

Plucking heaven and earth material like this fruit needs a special technique, and she was naturally prepared.

She carefully plucked the fruit and placed it in a jade box.

Roaar!

However, right at this moment, a dragon's roar sounded.

The dragon sensed someone had taken its fruit and woke up, letting out a furious roar when it saw the woman in the tree, placing its treasure in a jade box.

Like many beasts, this dragon had placed a soul mark on its treasure, making it especially sensitive to its absence.

"Not good!" She quickly put the apricot in her storage ring and took off into the sky as fast as possible.

"Damn human! You dare to steal my treasure?!" The dragon flapped its wings, shooting into the sky and chasing the woman.

The woman's expression turned grim as she glanced back at the dragon chasing her. Suddenly, the dragon unleashed a powerful blast of dragon breath.

An icy blue beam rushed toward her. Her expression quickly changed, and she swiftly dodged to the left, narrowly avoiding it. The breath flowed past her, leaving a trail of ice in its wake.

Rumble!

The beam crashed onto a distant mound, freezing it.

Looking at the destructive power of the dragon, she was sure that she had no way of winning against this dragon even if she used all her trump cards.

"Human! Give me back my treasure and I will grant a swift death!" The dragon roared from behind.

Watching the dragon steadily closing the distance, she grew anxious. At her current speed, it was only a matter of time before it caught up.

Her only possible way to get rid of the pursuit of this dragon is to lead it to another beast and let them fight off, and then perhaps she can take the chance to escape when they are distracted.

Finally gritting her teeth, she flew towards an area with few beasts. Powerful creatures have strong territorial senses and typically don't tolerate the presence of other beasts nearby.

Meanwhile, Yun Wuji walked out of his house and sensed two presences rapidly approaching him—one at Rank 10 Sky Profound Realm and the other at Rank 9.

He was a bit confused. Who would be so daring as to come seeking death in his territory?

With a light tap on the ground, he flew into the sky to get a better look.

From afar, he spotted a woman flying towards him with a blue dragon in hot pursuit.

"Hmm, dragon meat it is," Wuji muttered, rubbing his stomach.